Condensation evaporator



Nov. 10, 1936.

J. M CARTY. JR

CONDENSATION EVAPORATOR Filed Dec. 2, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet l Nov. 10,1936. R. J. MCCARTY, J R 2,060,399

CONDENSAIION EVAPORATOR Filed Dec. 2, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 83 fleZ/earJ Patented Nov. 10, 1936 I PATENT OFFICE CONDENSATION EVAPORATOR.

Richard J. McCarty, Jr., Bethlehem, Pa., assignor to Bethlehem SteelCompany, a corporation of Pennsylvania Application December 2, 1933,Serial No. 700,677

10 Claims.

This invention relates-to a condensation evaporator for steam lines, andmore particularly to a condensationevaporator for a steam line servingan auxiliary locomotive.

It has. been a practice when possible to connect the auxiliarylocomotive steam pipe line direct to the super-heater header of the mainlocomotive so that the auxiliary locomotive can be operatedindependently of the main locomotive. This arrangement, however, canonly be applied where the mainlocomotive has a front end throttle, butwhen a dome throttle is used, then the steam line to the auxiliary is insome cases connected to" the steam pipe of the main locomotive adlamentthe valve chamber.

When the auxiliary'steam line is connected to the superheater. header orits equivalent, then the pipe leading to the auxiliary is under pressurecontinuously, down as far as the throttle for the auxiliary locomotive,and therefore, when the auxiliary engine is not being used, the steam inthis pipe is subject to condensation, and being under boiler pressure itis difiicult to keep drained. Consequently, when the auxiliary throttleis opened, considerable condensate in the form of water passes throughthe steam line and into the. auxiliary engine cylinders, and sometimeswith obvious serious results.

In order to overcome this difiiculty, I have devised-means, whereby thewater in the steam line is pocketed or trapped while the steam is passedover the trap and the water is sprayed back into the live steam and thusreevaporated before enteringthe engine cylinders.

An object of this invention is to trap the water in such a way that itcannot damage the auxiliary' engine by impact and by setting uphydraulic conditions within the auxiliary engine cylinders- Anotherobject is to reduce heat losses that would-.otherwise take place if thecondensate were drained or otherwise disposed of in some way to theatmosphere.

The ,novelfeatures of my invention will be more fully'understood fromthe following descriptionand claims taken with the drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal view of the front end of a locomotive boilerpartly in section, showing the general arrangement of the application ofmy invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view, partly in section, of the steam by-pass andwater trap as shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view through the bypass pipe and watercollecting pipe taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2.,

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view of the spray or choke nozzle asshown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is an end view of the spray nozzle. 5.

Fig. 6 is a view in part, similar to Fig. 1, showing a modification inthe arrangement of piping.

Fig. 7 is a side elevation of a main locomotive and its tender with anauxiliary locomotive embodying my invention. 10

Referring to Fig. 1, numeral l0 represents generally, the locomotiveboiler. The shut-01f valve II, dry pipe I2, the superheater header I3,front end main throttle I4 and steam pipes I5 are of the usualconstruction. To the header I3 is con- 15 nected pipe I6 for supplyingsuperheated steam to the auxiliary locomotive engine 28 (shown in Fig.7). which may be of the type shown in the Patent No. 1,878,838 to one C.H. Froelich of September 20, 1932, or other similar engine 20 which maybe placed under the tender or mounted on the trailer truck. Pipe I6 isbrought out through the shell of the smoke box at H and is connected tothe auxiliary locomotive throttle valve I8. At a short distance to therear of 25 valve I8, I provide a steam by-pass pipe I9 positioned abovethe straight line pipe 20. Openings 2| and 22 are cut in pipe 20 and theends of pipe I9 are shaped to conform with these openings and thenwelded to the straight pipe 20' so as to form 30 Y connections. Near theY branch opening 22, I insert in pipe 20, a plug 23 which has a seriesof holes 24 drilled through its length. The plug is welded to pipe 20 asshown at 25. The drilled plug, thus installed, constitutes a 35 chokeand spray nozzle for the water to be trapped in pipe 20. It might bestated here that the orifices through the plug 23 may be other thanplain drilled holes, and that I do not limit myself to this particularconstruction. The pipes 40 I9 and 20 are preferably the same size.

Referring now to Fig. '7 I show a main locomotive and its tender. Thetender comprises as its rear truck the auxiliary locomotive 21 driven byits engine 28 which is connected, as hereinbe- 45 fore stated, by meansof the pipe I6 to the superheater header I3 shown in Fig. 1.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art, that when the steam lineto the auxiliary engine is connected to a source of steam supply back of50 the main throttle valve I4 in a manner similar to that shown in Fig.1, that considerable condensation will collect in the lower part of pipeI6, especially in that portion of the pipe outside of the smoke-box eventhough it be well insulated, 55

and that when the auxiliary throttle I8 is opened, this water, formed bycondensation, will be released suddenly and shot back into pipe 20 bythe action of the steam, where it is pocketed by the retarding action ofplug 23. The steam behind the water will then pass through pipe l9 andaround the pocketed water, and at the same time the steam will force thewater through the orifices of the plug so as to break it up into smallstreams where it is again picked up by the superheated steam andreevaporated. In this way, the water will be gradually reconverted intosteam, which will then pass to the auxiliary engine and perform anequivalent amount of work.

Upon opening of valve I8, the steam flows at high velocity from thehigher pressure to the lower pressure, thereby insuring theeffectiveness of the spraying and reevaporation of the water.

My invention is also applicable to a locomotive Where a dome throttle isused, or where steam for the auxiliary engine is taken from the steampipe [5 ahead of the main throttle, as shown in Fig. 6 by the pipeconnection 26. In an arrangement such as this, the tendency to collectwater from condensation is not as great as in the case Where the steamis taken from the superheater where it is under continuous pressure.Nevertheless, any water thus collected would be disposed of just aseffectively.

In order to dispose of the condensation, this invention takes advantageof the fact that the superheated steam is at a higher temperature thanthe condensate, and that when the condensate is broken up into the formof fine streams or spray and injected into the rapidly moving stream ofsuperheated steam, the condensate is again reevaporated so as to produceuseful energy. This has another advantage in reducing the heat loss,should the condensate be disposed of in some way to the atmosphere.

I also take advantage of the fact that this water, will in a large partbe reevaporated by the superheat in the steam, thereby increasing thetotal volume of the steam at the moment of starting the auxiliary enginewithout greatly decreasing the temperature of the steam.

Reevaporation is also assisted by reason of the fact that the heatedcondensate on being atomized is expanded and flashed into steam due tothe differential pressure on opposite sides of the spray plug when thethrottle opened. This difierence in pressure is emphasized by the rushof steam from the by-pass pipe in an angular direction past the end ofthe spray plug, which produces a siphonic or vacuum eiTect at itsdelivery end.

The advantages of my invention will be apparent to steam engineers whohave experienced difficulty along similar lines, and while I have shownmy invention in one form, it will be obvious to those skilled in the artthat it is not so limited, but is susceptible of various changes andmodifications without departing from the spirit thereof, and I desire,therefore, that only such limitations shall be placed thereupon as areimposed by the prior art, or as are specifically set forth in theappended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In combination with a steam locomotive having an auxiliary engine,means for generating steam, a steam supply line for supplying steam tothe auxiliary engine, a portion of said steam supply line beingsubstantially horizontal, communicating branch connections in saidportion arranged so as to form an outside by-pass, and an orificeddevice in said portion positioned intermediate the branches of saidby-pass, but closer to one of said branches than to the other branch.

2. In combination with a steam locomotive having an auxiliary engine,means for generating steam, a steam supply line for supplying steam tothe auxiliary engine comprising a substantially horizontal section ofpipe, a branch pipe, the axis of which is outside of said horizontalsection and arranged so as to form an outside passageway communicatingwith the passageway of said horizontal section at longitudinally spacedpoints, and a combined flow restricting and spraying device in saidhorizontal section positioned intermediate said communicating points.

3. In combination with a steam locomotive having an auxiliary engine,means for generating steam, a steam supply line for supplying steam tothe auxiliary engine, a portion of said steam supply line beingsubstantially horizontal, communicating oppositely inclined Y branchconnections in said portion arranged so as to form a by-pass in spacedrelation to said portion, and a. plug having a plurality of smallorifices extending therethrough secured in said portion intermediatesaid Y branches but relatively close to the Y branch at the delivery endof said by-pass.

4. In a device for disposing of condensate in a steam line, comprisingmeans for trapping the condensate as it enters said device, means tobypass the steam following the condensate past the entrapped condensateand to return it to the steam line, and means for causing the breakingup of the entrapped condensate and again delivering it to the steam linein the presence of the by-passed steam by the action of the steam behindthe condensate, whereby the condensate is reevaporated and reconvertedinto useful energy.

5. In a device for disposing of condensate in a steam line supplyingsuperheated steam to an engine, means comprising a pocket for receivingthe condensate entering said device, means comprising a branched conduitarranged so as to bypass the steam entering said device past thepocketed condensate, and a spray nozzle at the delivery end of saidpocket for atomizing and again returning the pocketed condensate intothe steam line by the action of the steam entering said pocket, wherebythe condensate is mingled with the superheated steam from the by-passand thus reevaporated before entering the engine.

6. In combination with a steam locomotive having an auxiliary engine,pipes connecting the boiler of the locomotive and the auxiliary engine,of means for receiving condensate accumulating in the pipe to saidauxiliary engine, and means for atomizing and returning said condensateto the auxiliary steam line by the action of live steam within saidpipes so as to reevaporate said condensate before reaching saidauxiliary engine.

7. In combination with a steam locomotive having an auxiliary engine,means for generating superheated steam, a steam line for supplyingsuperheated steam to the auxiliary engine, of means for pocketing thecondensate accumulating in said steam line, and means for atomizing andreturning said condensate to said steam line by the action ofsuperheated steam within said steam line so as to reevaporate saidcondensate before reaching said auxiliary engine.

8. In combination with a steam locomotive having an auxiliary engine,means for generating superheated steam, a steam line for supplyingsuperheated steam to the auxiliary engine, of separating meanscomprising a water trap and a steam by-pass for separating the wateraccumulating in said steam line from the steam, and means for atomizingand returning said water to said steam line by the action of superheatedsteam within said steam line, whereby to dispose of said water byconverting it into useful energy.

9. In combination with a steam locomotive having an auxiliary engine, asteam generator and a superheater having a header, a main throttle valveforward of said header for controlling the steam to the main engine, anauxiliary steam line connecting said header and said auxiliary engine,an auxiliary throttle in said auxiliary line, of means for separatingfrom the steam the water formed by condensation in the auxiliary linebetween said auxiliary throttle and said header upon the opening of theauxiliary throttle, means for by-passing superheated steam outside ofthe water separating means, and means for spraying the separated Waterback into the steam line in the presence of the steam issuing from saidby-pass, whereby to reevaporate said water before entering the auxiliaryengine.

10. In combination with a steam locomotive having an auxiliary engineoperable independently of the main engine, a boiler provided with asuperheater having a header, a main throttle valve positioned forward ofsaid header for controlling the steam to the main engine, an auxiliarysteam line including an auxiliary throttle for supplying superheatedsteam to the auxiliary engine, that part of the auxiliary line betweenthe superheater and said auxiliary throttle being connected to thesuperheater so as to be under continuous pressure, of means upon theopening of said auxiliary throttle for separating from the steam thewater collecting in that part of the line forward of the auxiliarythrottle, and means for quickly reevaporating said water in the presenceof superheated steam passing to said auxiliary engine.

RICHARD J. McCAR'I'Y, JR.

